1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fiber optics communication equipment, and especially to a chassis for holding various components of such equipment including interchangeable cassettes, which may contain lasers, switches, meters, or other fiber optics components.
2. Prior Art
It is typical to provide fiber optics communication equipment, such as switching or testing equipment, in a rectangular chassis having a series of slots for accommodating a series of cassettes. Chassis of this kind usually have a power module for supplying power to the cassettes, a local user interface, which may include a keypad and display screen, and a remote user interface including a power entry and other remote connectors. A series of such chassis may be held in a stack. Typically, these local user and remote user interfaces have been at opposite ends of the chassis, with the various remote user interfaces superposed to enable easy interconnection.
Some users prefer that the cassettes be accessible for removal and replacement from the front of a chassis, which is beside the local user interface, while other users prefer that the cassettes are accessible from the back, beside the remote user interface. With the current design, if some chassis in a stack were reversed so that some have front and some have rear access to the cassettes, this would make an awkward arrangement since the remote user interfaces would be at different sides of the stack, thereby making interconnection thereof quite difficult.
An object of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a versatile modular equipment chassis that can be arranged in various ways, while maintaining a certain symmetry that facilitates interconnection of superposed chasses.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a chassis, which is reversible, in that it can easily be converted from a first configuration, in which the cassettes are removable from the front, to one in which they are removable from the back. In this context the xe2x80x9cbackxe2x80x9d means the side of the chassis having the remote user interface module and the xe2x80x9cfrontxe2x80x9d means the side of the chassis having the local user interface module.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a modular equipment chassis comprises:
a housing including a first open side, a second side, and at least one slot with an open end in the first open side for receiving at least one component contained in a removable cassette;
a local user interface module for displaying the current status of at least one of the components and providing a local user manual interface for controlling at least one of the components;
a remote interface module for enabling optical and/or electrical interconnection between each component and remote devices;
a first docking station mounted in the first open side for receiving either one of the local user interface module or the remote interface module;
a second docking station mounted in the second side for receiving either one of the local user interface module or the remote interface module; and
back panel means for receiving each cassette and for electrically connecting the first docking station, the second docking station and each component;
whereby the local user interface module and the remote interface module are interchangeable in position, so that either one of the local user interface module or the remote interface module can be positioned adjacent the open end of the at least one slot.
It will be understood that the term xe2x80x9csidexe2x80x9d as used above includes, for a rectangular chassis, both the front and back, and the lateral sides which connect the front and back. In the preferred arrangement, the first and second sides of the housing are on opposite sides, e.g. at the front and the back, of the chassis. Preferably also, the first docking station is in a diagonally opposed position to the second docking station. The chassis preferably further comprises a power module mounted in the second side thereof.
The chassis may also comprise securing means for connecting the local user interface module and the remote interface module to the housing, wherein the securing means comprises:
a first abutting surface on the housing and a second abutting surface on each of the local user interface module and the remote interface module; and
fastening means for holding the first and second abutting surfaces together.
Preferably, the first abutting surface of the housing is a side of the housing, and the remote user interface module and the local user interface module each have a second abutting surface in the form of a lower front flange with at least one screw hole for attachment to the respective side of the housing.
A plurality of the superposed modular equipment chassis may be superposed with their remote user interface modules superposed to facilitate interconnection thereof.
More specifically, the present invention provides a chassis for fiber optic communication equipment, comprising:
a rectangular housing having first and second opposing sides;
a back panel mounted parallel to said first and second sides, said back panel cooperating with the housing to provide fore-and-aft extending slots for receiving cassettes containing optical communication equipment;
a remote user interface module for making connections to other remote equipment; and
a display module providing a local user interface module for displaying the condition of the equipment in the cassettes;
wherein said remote and local user interface modules are situated at opposite sides of the housing in docking stations, which docking stations enable the interface modules to be interchanged in position so that either of said first or second sides of the housing may become the front of the chassis, depending upon which of said first or second sides contains the local user interface module, whereby the chassis is reversible to allow the cassettes to be removed either from the front or from the rear of the chassis while the local user interface module remains at the front of the chassis.
To allow for reversing of the chassis as described, each of the lateral end members preferably has an ear at both of its ends, so that such ears project from the front of the chassis irrespective of whether it is the first or the second side which is at the front of the chassis.